Menglong Rui, PhD, Associate Professor, PhD Supervisor
E-mail: ruimenglong@seu.edu.cn
Office: Huichuan Building, A408, Jiangbei Campus, Southeast University
Personal Profile
Dr. Rui received a doctoral degree from Southeast University in 2017. From 2018 to 2020, he conducted postdoctoral research at the Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, Singapore. He then joined the School of Life Science and Technology at Southeast University in 2021 and has hosted grants, including the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, the Nanjing Overseas Returnees Innovation and Technology Project, and the Southeast University “Zhishan Young Scholars” Project A. He also serves concurrently as a “Council Member of the Jiangsu Neuroscience Society”; the reviewer of Journal of Translational Medicine, Neural Regeneration Research, GeroScience, Current Neuropharmacology, Developmental Neuroscience, Int J Mol Sci, Scientific Reports, Biology, etc.
Research Interests
Developmental synaptic pruning sculpts neural circuits by eliminating superfluous or inappropriate connections, thereby refining information processing, critical-period plasticity, and excitation-inhibition balance. Dysregulation of pruning during sensitive windows is increasingly recognized as a convergent mechanism in neurodevelopmental disorders-particularly autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Our research seeks to elucidate the cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern developmental synaptic pruning and to define how dysregulation of these processes contributes to the pathophysiology of ASD.
The previous research findings are summarized in the figure below:
Publications (# co-first author; * corresponding author; Descending by Year)：
1. Wanting Wang#, Su Wang#, Yuhao Yuan, Menglong Rui*. Ribbon Constrains Dendritic Pruning via Actin Scaffolding and Exocyst Complex. Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters. 2026 Apr 2.
2. Shuliu Zhang#, Sifan Gong#, Yiming Yang, Wenting Gong, Qingxia Zhou, Kun Yang, Menglong Rui*, Su Wang*. Casein kinase 2 maintains the self-renewal of neural stem cells via prospero phosphorylation in Drosophila. Cell & Bioscience. 2026 Jan 28;16(1):23.
3. Sifan Gong#, Shuliu Zhang#, Xu Yan, Wenting Gong, Qingxia Zhou, Xiaojing Yang, Kun Yang*, Menglong Rui*, Su Wang*. N-myristoyl Transferase Maintains Type II Neuroblasts through Notch Signaling in Drosophila.Neuroscience Bulletin. 2026 Jan 3.
4. Keyao Long#, Erqian Huang#, Yuhao Yuan, Su Wang*, Menglong Rui*. Steering Axon Development: Glial Cell Mechanisms in Drosophila. ACS Chemical Neuroscience. 2025 Sep 17;16(18):3438-3449.
5. Ting Zheng, Keyao Long, Su Wang, Menglong Rui*. Glial-derived TNF/Eiger signaling promotes somatosensory neurite sculpting. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences. 2025 Jan 21;82(1):47.
6. Bin Wang #, Limin Xu#, Menglong Rui*. Progress in Drug-targeted Therapy for Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma. Current Oncology Reports. 2025 Nov;27(11):1331-1345.
7. Keyao Long, Wanyue Xu, Xun Miao, Su Wang*, Menglong Rui*. Live Cell Imaging to Monitor Axonal Pruning in Drosophila Motor Neurons. Bio-protocol. 2025 Jul 5;15(13): e5367.
8. Qingxia Zhou#, Fuhao Zhang#, Sifan Gong, Shuliu Zhang, Wenting Gong, Menglong Rui*, Su Wang*. Split Ends Inhibits the Dedifferentiation of imINP to Prevent the Generation of Supernumerary Type II Neuroblasts in Drosophila. Cells. 2025 Dec 4;14(23):1926.
9. Wanting Wang, Menglong Rui*. Advances in understanding the roles of actin scaffolding and membrane trafficking in dendrite development. Journal of Genetics and Genomics. 2024 Nov;51(11):1151-1161.
10. Menglong Rui*. Recent progress in dendritic pruning of Drosophila C4da sensory neurons. Open Biology. 2024 Jul;14(7):240059.
11. Ziyang Gao, Erqian Huang, Wanting Wang, Lizhong Xu, Wanyue Xu, Ting Zheng, Menglong Rui*. Patronin regulates presynaptic microtubule organization and neuromuscular junction development in Drosophila. iScience. 2024 Jan 18;27(2):108944.
12. Menglong Rui*, Weiyu Kong, Wanting Wang, Ting Zheng, Su Wang*, Wei Xie. Droj2 Facilitates Somatosensory Neurite Sculpting via GTP-Binding Protein Arf102F in Drosophila. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Aug 25;24(17):13213.
13. Wanyue Xu, Weiyu Kong, Ziyang Gao, Erqian Huang, Wei Xie, Su Wang*, Menglong Rui*. Establishment of a novel axon pruning model of Drosophila motor neuron. Biology Open. 2023 Jan 1;12(1): bio059535.
14. Menglong Rui#, Kay Siong Ng#, Quan Tang, Shufeng Bu, Fengwei Yu*. Protein phosphatase PP2A regulates microtubule orientation and dendrite pruning in Drosophila. EMBO Reports. 2020 Mar 6;21 (5): e48843.
15. Menglong Rui#, Shufeng Bu#, Liang Yuh Chew#, Qiwei Wang, Fengwei Yu*. The membrane protein Raw regulates dendrite pruning via the secretory pathway. Development. 2020 Oct 9;147(19): dev191155.
16. Yan Wang#, Menglong Rui#, Quan Tang, Shufeng Bu, Fengwei Yu*. Patronin governs minus-end-out orientation of dendritic microtubules to promote dendrite pruning in Drosophila. Elife. 2019 Mar 28;8: e39964.
17. Menglong Rui, Jinjun Qian, Lijuan Liu, Huihui Lv, Junhai Han, Zhengping Jia and Wei Xie*. The neuronal protein Neurexin directly interacts with the Scribble-Pix complex to stimulate F-actin assembly for synaptic vesicle clustering. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2017 Sep 1;292(35): 14334-14348.
18. QuanTang, Menglong Rui, Shufeng Bu, Yan Wang, Liang Yuh Chew, and Fengwei Yu*. A microtubule polymerase is required for microtubule orientation and dendrite pruning in Drosophila. The EMBO Journal. 2020 May 18;39(10): e103549.
19. Huanhuan Zhang, Menglong Rui, Zhixin Ma, Sifan Gong, Shuliu Zhang, Qingxia Zhou, Congfeng Gan, Wenting Gong, Su Wang*. Golgi-to-ER retrograde transport prevents premature differentiation of Drosophila type II neuroblasts via Notch-signal-sending daughter cells. iScience. 2023 Nov 22;27(1):108545.
20. Xinwang Zhang, Menglong Rui, Guangmin Gan, Cong Huang, Jukang Yi, Huihui Lv, Wei Xie*. Neuroligin4 regulates synaptic growth via the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling pathway at the Drosophila neuromuscular junction. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2017 Nov 3;292(44):17991-18005.
21. Renjun Tu, Jinjun Qian, Menglong Rui, Nana Tao, Mingkuan Sun, Yan Zhuang, HuihuiLv, Junhai Han, Moyi Li and Wei Xie*. Proteolytic cleavage is required for functional neuroligin 2 maturation and trafficking in Drosophila. Journal of Molecular Cell Biology. 2017 Jun 1;9(3): 231-242.
22. Zhixin Ma, Wenshu Wang, Xiaojing Yang, Menglong Rui, Su Wang*. Glial ferritin maintains neural stem cells via transporting iron required for self-renewal in Drosophila. Elife. 2024 Sep 10;13:RP93604.
23. Guanglin Xing#, Moyi Li#, Yichen Sun, Menglong Rui, Yan Zhuang, Huihui Lv, Junhai Han, Zhengping Jia*, Wei Xie*. Neurexin-Neuroligin 1 regulates synaptic morphology and functions via the WAVE regulatory complex in Drosophila neuromuscular junction. Elife. 2018 Mar 14;7: e30457.
24. Yichen Sun, Moyi Li*, Junhua Geng, Sibie Meng, Renjun Tu, Yan Zhuang, Mingkuan Sun, Menglong Rui, Mengzhu Ou, Guangling Xing, Travis K Johnson, Wei Xie*. Neuroligin 2governs synaptic morphology and function through RACK1-cofilin signaling in Drosophila. Communications Biology. 2023 Oct 18;6(1):1056.
25. Yu Zhao, Junhua Geng, Zhu Meng, Yichen Sun, Mengzhu Ou, Lizhong Xu, Moyi Li, Guangming Gan, Menglong Rui, Junhai Han, Wei Xie. Neurexin facilitates glycosylation of Dystroglycan to sustain muscle architecture and function in Drosophila. Communications Biology. 2024 Nov 9;7(1):1481.
26. Xi Xiao, Changyan Chen, Tian-ming Yu, Jiayao Ou,Menglong Rui, Yuanfen Zhai,Yijing He, Lei Xue, and Margaret S. Ho*. Molecular Chaperone Calnexin Regulatesthe Function of Drosophila Sodium Channel Paralytic. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience. 2017 Mar 7;10:57.
27. Jianzheng He, Alice Mei Xien Tan, SiYun Ng, Menglong Rui, Fengwei Yu*. Cannabinoids modulate food preference and consumption in Drosophila melanogaster. Scientific Reports. 2021 Feb 25;11(1):4709.